By Casper Hedberg – In a dusty and worn out gym under the gray concrete platforms of the Ghazi Stadium in Kabul a handful of Afghan girls are preparing for the biggest adventure they could ever imagine: the Olympics in London in 2012. The girls are members ofthe first and only boxing club for girls in Afghanistan. Same place, same arena, where the Taliban for nearly a decade ago hosted public executions of women who were considered to have violated the Sharia law. Boxing Club for Girls is a symbol of the free, modern and more equitable Afghanistan, which emerged after the fall of the Taliban. But it is a fragile freedom. There are those who are willing to go far, even murder, to get these girls to end up with boxing.
The girls in the boxing club are too young to remember the Taliban's reign of terror, but they are well aware that the freedom they are experiencing now is fragile. High-ranked Talibans have approached President Karzai, and offered to cooperate to end the violence. No one can imagine that it will be done without giving the Talibans influence over politics.At Ghazi Stadium the Talibans for less than ten years ago, arranged public executions of people who violated the Sharia law. Today the arena is the training facility for female boxers and that’s an important symbol. But out on the running track the girls cannot work out, this area is only accessible for men.In the dusk Zia Moy Nasari, 17, and her friends exit through the well-guarded iron gates. A guard with an automatic weapon dangling over his shoulder glance after the girls. A mini-bus is waiting and will for safety reasons pick up and leave the girls before and after every training session.The Boxing Club for Girls was founded in 2007 by Saber Shafiri and his colleague Ahmad Nisay Qarisada. A couple of the girls are good enough to qualify for the Olympics in London in 2012.- Chap. Ryst. Chap. Right. Left. Right.- Come on, hit harder!Coach Nisay Ahmad Qarizada rooting for Sadaf Rahimi, 17.Coach Nisay Ahmad Qarizada cheering enthusiastically at Sadaf Rahimi, 17.In Afghanistan, there are over 5000 registered boxers; about twenty of them are women.Zakrha Hosiny, 17, Zia Moy Nasari, 17, Sohila Sarvari, 15, follows the coach Saber Sharifis instructions.In the gym the girls can feel free and they do not have to wear veils.- Chap. Ryst. Chap. Right. Left. Right.- Come on, hit harder!Coach Nisay Ahmad Qarizada rooting for Sadaf Rahimi, 17.Kvinnliga boxare i Kabul, Afghanistan.At Ghazi Stadium the Talibans for less than ten years ago, arranged public executions of people who violated the Sharia law. Today the arena is the training facility for female boxers and that’s an important symbol. But out on the running track the girls cannot work out, this area is only accessible for men.The Boxing Club for Girls was founded in 2007 by Saber Shafiri and his colleague Ahmad Nisay Qarisada. A couple of the girls are good enough to qualify for the Olympics in London in 2012.The girls in the boxing club are too young to remember the Taliban's reign of terror, but they are well aware that the freedom they are experiencing now is fragile. High-ranked Talibans have approached President Karzai, and offered to cooperate to end the violence. No one can imagine that it will be done without giving the Talibans influence over politics.The girls in the boxing club are too young to remember the Taliban's reign of terror, but they are well aware that the freedom they are experiencing now is fragile. High-ranked Talibans have approached President Karzai, and offered to cooperate to end the violence. No one can imagine that it will be done without giving the Talibans influence over politics.The girls are often told by those around them that sports are not for women. The family said no when one of the best boxers, Shala Sekandari, told her family that she wanted to start boxing. The only one who supported her wholeheartedly from the beginning was, somewhat surprisingly, her father.- Do not worry about what others say; this is your choice, he says.Fahimha Rahimi, 19, catches her breath. In the background Shabnam Rahimi, 18, is boxing on a sandbag.The Boxing Club for Girls was founded in 2007 by Saber Shafiri and his colleague Ahmad Nisay Qarisada. A couple of the girls are good enough to qualify for the Olympics in London in 2012.It is Thursday afternoon, soon after three o’clock, and one of this week's three tough workouts has just begun. A dozen girls in red track suits dance around on tiptoe in the dark room. Their clenched fists only partially conceal their hard-sets faces. The girls are between 14 and 20 years old and members of Afghanistan's first - and only - boxing club for women.The Boxing Club for Girls was founded in 2007 by Saber Shafiri and his colleague Ahmad Nisay Qarisada. A couple of the girls are good enough to qualify for the Olympics in London in 2012.For the girls in the club boxing means everything. Most of them come from poor families; boxing is their way of fighting against oppression and for greater gender equality.Several of the girls and their families have received death threats, directly or anonymously by phone. But Sadaf Rahimi, 17, will not quit. And neither will her friends in the boxing club.- Boxing is my life. It has given me confidence, both in the ring and outside, she explains.The Boxing Club for Girls was founded in 2007 by Saber Shafiri and his colleague Ahmad Nisay Qarisada. A couple of the girls are good enough to qualify for the Olympics in London in 2012.In the dusk Zia Moy Nasari, 17, and her friends exit through the well-guarded iron gates. A guard with an automatic weapon dangling over his shoulder glance after the girls. A mini-bus is waiting and will for safety reasons pick up and leave the girls before and after every training session.In the dusk Zia Moy Nasari, 17, and her friends exit through the well-guarded iron gates. A guard with an automatic weapon dangling over his shoulder glance after the girls. A mini-bus is waiting and will for safety reasons pick up and leave the girls before and after every training session.In the dusk Zia Moy Nasari, 17, and her friends exit through the well-guarded iron gates. A guard with an automatic weapon dangling over his shoulder glance after the girls. A mini-bus is waiting and will for safety reasons pick up and leave the girls before and after every training session.In Kabul, most women wear burqas, in the countryside the burka is even more common and you see almost no woman without a burqa.In Kabul, most women wear burqas, in the countryside the burka is even more common and you see almost no woman without a burqa.
